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Three People Die of Tamiflu-Resistant H1N1
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Anonymous
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DURHAM, NC (AP)--Health officials say that three of four patients who had tested positive for a Tamiflu-resistant type of swine flu died at the Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina.
The cases, reported over a period of six weeks, make up the largest number of cases seen in one place so far in the U.S. Tamiflu is one of two flu medicines used to protect against swine flu, and health experts have been keeping a watchful eye for any sign that the virus is mutating and becoming resistant to the drug. More than 50 resistant cases have been reported in the world since April, including 21 in the U.S. Almost all the cases in the U.S. were isolated, said officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
Anonymous
I know there's some experimental IV antiviral drug that teh FDA allowed to be used prior to usual approval bc of the timeliness. I wonder if they tried it on them.... so sad. 
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Anonymous
| So sad. So does this mean this mutated strain is covered by vaccine or not? |
Anonymous
I dont know if it's mutated per se, but that it's starting to resist tamiflu. I don't think it needs to mutate for that to occur. |
Anonymous
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Yes, it does. It is a mutation that is tamiflu resistant. Influenza is constantly mutating, this isn't surprising -- it is just that THIS particular mutation is tamiflu resistant.
What this article doesn't say is that the 4 people were severely immunocompromised, which is at least reassuring as it relates to the general population. |
Anonymous
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To clarify, mutation is normal. Some of us have likely had a different mutation than others -- what matters is the degree of the mutation.
Immunity is a spectrum. This one tamiflu resistant strain they're talking about is likely not very far off at all from what you've been vaccinated against, if you chose to vaccinate. |
Anonymous
Anonymous
That's the key definitely. PP, where did you read this, by the way? |
Anonymous
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From CIDRAP.
-- Duke patients were immunocompromised At Duke, officials said the four patients who had resistant viruses were in an isolated unit and were very ill, "with underlying severely compromised immune systems and multiple other complex medical conditions." Daniel Sexton, MD, professor of medicine and director of the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network, said it is believed that all four patients caught the flu while at the hospital, the Associated Press (AP) reported today. He said three of the patients died and one is recovering. One patient had been given oseltamivir as a preventive measure before experiencing flu symptoms, and the others were given the drug after symptoms developed, Sexton told the AP. The university release said a team of experts from the CDC, state and county health departments, and the Duke Division of Infectious Diseases is investigating the cases. "Our extensive investigation thus far has revealed that appropriate infection control procedures have been diligently practiced on this isolated unit, and throughout the hospital, and we have experienced no illness among employees taking care of these patients in the affected unit over this period of time," Sexton said in the release. The statement noted that all oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 viruses identified so far have been susceptible to zanamivir (Relenza), the other licensed neuraminidase inhibitor. Oseltamivir-resistant cases have been reported sporadically since the start of the H1N1 pandemic. In late October the World Health Organization said 39 cases had been identified up to that time. In general the cases have been geographically dispersed, and there has been no evidence of ongoing transmission of resistant strains, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said this week. Vincent Racaniello, PhD, a Columbia University virologist and author of Vriology Blog, said today there have been a few clusters of resistant H1N infections, but no sustained transmission of the strains. "I take this to mean that resistance strains do not transmit well among humans; otherwise, there would be more extensive circulation," he told CIDRAP News after he was asked to comment on the Wales cases. "It took some time before seasonal H1N1 became widely Tamiflu-resistant [a fact that became clear last winter], and I suspect the same pattern will apply with 2009 H1N1 virus," he added. "At the moment there is no cause for alarm." |
Anonymous
| Sorry, that's the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy. http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/ |
Anonymous
| i wonder if they had HIV. if so, i think epidemics like this are going to be very scary for those with HIV. and in this city, that is a lot of people... |
Anonymous
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I thought they were cancer patients?
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Anonymous
thanks |